Internet can do help in the reduction of pesticide use by farmers: evidence from rural China

Zhao, Qiuqian; Pan, Yuhe; Xia, Xianli

doi:10.1007/s11356-020-10576-8

Cited by 78 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…The terms interaction coefficients Treat×T, Treat×year2012, and Treat×year2013 are still significant and with negative coefficients, consistent with the outcomes presented in Table 4, which indicates that the mobile phone promotion policy reduced the IF usage. This result is consistent with the findings of Zhao et al [48] which indicates that farmers who can effectively use IT resources have stronger production safety capabilities and are more likely to reduce the IF used. Therefore, in addition to the shallow IT use, the in-depth use of this modern technology may also be an important factor affecting farmers to reduce pesticides.…”

Section: Robustness Test: Psm-did Modelsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…Overall, mobile phone and IT usage has a significant positive effect on economic well-being and upgrade policy and is important for growers in rural areas because it helps them obtain information about reducing the IF, market prices, environment, and other related information. Similar results reported by Zhao et al [48] showed that with the in-depth application of information technology, more and more farmers had obtained information about seeds, pesticides, fertilizers, and pest control technologies. Use the relevant software and information programs on the mobile phone or directly refer to the online opinions for IF use and clean farmland production.…”

Section: Policy Assessment: Did Methodssupporting

confidence: 83%

“…The latest information on weather conditions and mobile phones can benefit farmers in developing countries and improve farmers' access to agricultural information in Asian, African, and Latin American countries [42][43][44][45]. According to Fabregas et al [46], Nie et al [47], and Zhao et al [48], mobile phone and Internet technology (IT), especially smartphones, can bring advanced science-based agricultural advice to small growers to reduce IF and increase productivity, particularly in the context of rapid variations in economic and ecological conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Toward Cleaner Production: Can Mobile Phone Technology Help Reduce Inorganic Fertilizer Application? Evidence Using a National Level Dataset

Khan

Ray

Kassem

et al. 2021

Land

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Increasing agricultural production and optimizing inorganic fertilizer (IF) use are imperative for agricultural and environmental sustainability. Mobile phone usage (MPU) has the potential to reduce IF application while ensuring environmental and agricultural sustainability goals. The main objectives of this study were to assess MPU, mobile phone promotion policy, and whether the mediation role of human capital can help reduce IF use. This study used baseline regression analysis and propensity score matching, difference-in-differences (PSM-DID) to assess the impact of MPU on IF usage. However, the two-stage instrumental variables method (IVM) was used to study the effects of mobile phone promotion policy on IF usage. This study used a national dataset from 7,987 rural households in Afghanistan to investigate the impacts of MPU and associated promotion policies on IF application. The baseline regression outcomes showed that the MPU significantly reduced IF usage. The evaluation mechanism revealed that mobile phones help reduce IF application by improving the human capital of farmers. Besides, evidence from the DID technique showed that mobile phone promotion policies lowered IF application. These results remained robust after applying the PSM-DID method and two-stage IVM to control endogenous decisions of rural households. This study results imply that enhancing the accessibility of wideband in remote areas, promoting MPU, and increasing investment in information communication technologies (ICTs) infrastructure can help decrease the IF application in agriculture. Thus, the government should invest in remote areas to facilitate access to ICTs, such as having a telephone and access to a cellular and internet network to provide an environment and facility to apply IF effectively. Further, particular policy support must focus on how vulnerable populations access the internet and mobile phone technologies.

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Section: Robustness Test: Psm-did Modelsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Policy Assessment: Did Methodssupporting

confidence: 83%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Toward Cleaner Production: Can Mobile Phone Technology Help Reduce Inorganic Fertilizer Application? Evidence Using a National Level Dataset

Khan

Ray

Kassem

et al. 2021

Land

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For example, the excessive usage of chemical pesticides has been associated with many human diseases (e.g. respiratory disorders, cancer, reproductive disorders, neurological dysfunction and diabetes; Nicolopoulou-Stamati et al, 2016;Sabarwal et al, 2018;Zhao et al, 2021), a reduction in biodiversity (Beketov et al, 2013;Br ühl & Zaller, 2019), and water and soil contamination (Rani et al, 2021;Thais et al, 2020). The overuse of chemical fertilisers has resulted in soil deterioration (Atafar et al, 2010;Gai et al, 2018;Yuan et al, 2021) and greenhouse gas emissions (Wu et al, 2021;Zhang et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heterogeneous impacts of information technology adoption on pesticide and fertiliser expenditures: Evidence from wheat farmers in China*

Ma¹,

Zheng²

2021

Aus J Agri & Res Econ

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This study examines the impacts of mobile information technology adoption on agrochemical expenditures, using data collected from 551 wheat farmers in China. Unlike previous studies that analyse a homogeneous relationship between the adoption of information technologies and farm input use, in this study, an instrumental variable quantile regression approach is utilised to capture the heterogeneous impacts of smartphone use on pesticide and fertiliser expenditures. Findings reveal that smartphone use affects pesticide and fertiliser expenditures heterogeneously, and its impacts on pesticide expenditure are larger than those on fertiliser expenditure. Specifically, at the lowest 20th quantile, smartphone use significantly increases pesticide expenditure by 33 per cent and fertiliser expenditure by 18 per cent. However, at the higher 60th and 80th quantiles, smartphone use significantly decreases pesticide expenditure by 36-39 per cent and fertiliser expenditure by 14-19 per cent. Our findings suggest that guiding farmers' agrochemical usage behaviours through smartphone-based information intervention can be a practical strategy to help reduce the excessive usage of chemical pesticides and fertilisers and preserve the environment and human health.

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“…Reduce the use of chemical pesticides through applying pest prevention and control technology or replacing highly toxic and high-residue chemical pesticides to biological pesticides [48].…”

Section: Clpqit Explanation Functionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Does the Stability of Land Management Right (SLMR) Affect Family Farms’ Cultivated Land Protection and Quality Improvement Behavior (CLPQIB) in China?

Shang

Yin

et al. 2021

Land

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Protecting and improving cultivated land quality is a key way to the realization of agricultural modernization. The Chinese government advocates agricultural producers to implement cultivated land protection and quality improvement behavior (CLPQIB). However, the cultivated land management rights of family farms are not so stable. In order to study how stability of land management rights (SLMR) affects family farms’ CLQPIB, promoting family farms in adopting technologies to protect cultivated land, this study investigated 117 family farms in Anhui and Hubei provinces by stratified sampling and analyzed data through the logistic regression model and marginal effects model. The results showed that transferred land ratio, contract types, and contract duration affected family farms’ CLPQIB significantly. The probability of family farms applying organic fertilizer decreased by 0.9% for every 1% increase of the transferred land ratio. Family farms’ rented land through formal contracts have a 21.4% higher probability of adopting planting–breeding technology than family farms’ rented land through informal contracts. For every additional year of the rental contract duration, the possibility for family farms to replace chemical fertilizer with organic fertilizer, pesticides reduction, and integrated planting-breeding increase by 2.1%, 2.2%, and 1.3%, respectively. The results of this study can guide policy makers with further regulating land transfer behavior, guide family farms with signing formal lease contracts, and extending the duration of lease contracts, improving the cultivated land protection behavior of family farms.

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Internet can do help in the reduction of pesticide use by farmers: evidence from rural China

Cited by 78 publications

References 23 publications

Toward Cleaner Production: Can Mobile Phone Technology Help Reduce Inorganic Fertilizer Application? Evidence Using a National Level Dataset

Toward Cleaner Production: Can Mobile Phone Technology Help Reduce Inorganic Fertilizer Application? Evidence Using a National Level Dataset

Heterogeneous impacts of information technology adoption on pesticide and fertiliser expenditures: Evidence from wheat farmers in China*

How Does the Stability of Land Management Right (SLMR) Affect Family Farms’ Cultivated Land Protection and Quality Improvement Behavior (CLPQIB) in China?

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